System for phase locking on a virtual carrier received by an asymmetrical receiver

ABSTRACT

THE PRESENT INVENTION IS DIRECTED TO A PHASE-LOCK SYSTEM WHICH CAN DERIVE A DEMODULATING CARRIER REFERENCE SIGNAL FOR USE IN A SUPPRESSED CARRIER QUADRATURE, AMPLITUDE MODULATING DIGITAL DATA TRANSMISSION SYSTEM WHICH DOES NOT REQUIRE THE TRANSMISSION OF A LOW LEVEL CARRIER OR PILOT TONES. THE SYSTEM OPERATES BY MULTIPLYING THE EQUALIZED RECEIVED CROSS COUPLED SIGNAL IN EACH CHANNEL BY A SPECIFIED FUNCTION OF THE DECODED N-LEVEL DATA SIGNAL OF BOTH CHANNELS AND SUBTRACTING THE PRODUCTS AND DIVIDING THE RESULTS BY THE ERROR SIGNAL COEFFICIENT TO ARRIVE AT AN ERROR SIGNAL WHICH IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE PHASE ERROR BETWEEN THE DEMODULATING CARRIER REFERENCE SIGNAL AND THE SUPPRESSED TRANSMITTING CARRIER. THE DERIVED ERROR SIGNAL CAN BE MADE INDEPENDENT OF DATA SIGNAL LEVEL VALUES AND THE RECEIVED SIGNAL LEVELS EVEN IN THE PRESENCE OF SEVERE INTERSYMBOL INTERFERENCE AND CROSS COUPLED TERMS. THE DERIVED PHASE ERROR SIGNAL IS THEN FED BACK TO A VARIABLE OSCILLATOR PROVIDING THE DEMODULATING CARRIER REFERENCE SIGNAL TO CHANGE THE PHASE OF THE REFERENCE SIGNAL SO AS TO REDUCE THE ERROR SIGNAL TOWARDS ZERO.

June 13, 1972 MOTLEY ETAL 3,669,511

SYSTEM FOR PHASE LOCKING ON A VIRTUAL CARRIER RECEIVED BY AN ASYMMETRICAL RECEIVER Filed Sept. 17, 1970 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 s simfij I bq R m- &

. i R 5 M an M me. a

I NVENTORS DAVID M. MOTLEY NAIF D. SALMAN ATTORNEY June 13, 1972 D. M. MOTLEY ETAL 3,669,511

SYSTEM FOR PHASE LOCKING ON A VIRTUAL CARRIER RECEIVED BY AN ASYMMETRIGAL RECEIVER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 17, 1970 m o a I l a m m m m 5 55 $5 a w mmp A o: a 1 a A 29.. n Al Y2. WI 2. 6.. 8 mm M A Y o? 201. x mm June 13, 1972 11 MOTLEY ETAL 3,669,511

SYSTEM FOR PHASE LOCKING ON A VIRTUAL CARRIER RECEIVED BY AN ASYMMETRICAL RECEIVER Filed Sept. 17, 1970 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FROM LOGIC FROM Q -b 6 --w 9 UT FIG. 5

I N EYTORS DAVID M. MOTLEY NAIF D. SALMAN Ya Z Mfp/gw ATTORNEY June 13, 1972 D. M. MOTLEY ETAL 3,569,511

SYSTEM FOR PHASE LOCKING ON A VIRTUAL CARRIER RECEIVED BY AN ASYMMETRICAL RECEIVER Filed Sept. 17, 1970 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 U 5 A a U a. I 5' 9 -e- 5 e E .5 Q .2 n a p h cos I02 (I) bzim LOGIC IIZ 6 2 I! x Q m n fi a E 9 Q Q L m w I \'\'E.\'TORS (b 1 DAVID M MOTLEY NAIF D. SALMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent Office Patented June 13, 1972 SYSTEM FOR PHASE LOCKING ON A VIRTUAL CARRIER RECEIVED BY AN ASYMMETRICAL RECEIVER David M. Motley, Santa Ana, and Naif D. Salman, Orange, Calif., assignors to North American Rockwell Corporation Filed Sept. 17, 1970, Ser. No. 72,949 Int. Cl. H04b N30 US. Cl. 325-329 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention is directed to a phase-lock system which can derive a demodulating carrier reference signal for use in a suppressed carrier quadrature, amplitude modulating digital data transmission system which does'not require the transmission of a low level carrier or pilot tones.

The system operates by multiplying the equalized received cross coupled signal in each channel by a specified function of the decoded n-level data signal of both channels and subtracting the products and dividing the results by the error signal coeflicient to arrive at an error signal which is proportional to the phase error between the demodulating carrier reference signal and the suppressed transmitting carrier. The derived error signal can be made independent of data signal level values and the received signal levels even in the presence of severe intersymbol interference and cross coupled terms. The derived phase error signal is then fed back to a variable oscillator providing the demodulating carrier reference signal to change the phase of the reference signal so as to reduce the error signal towards zero.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to phase lock systems and, more particularly, to a system for deriving a phase error signal from an amplitude modulated, suppressed carrier signal without requiring the transmission of a low level carrier signal or pilot tones.

Phase lock systems or phase lock loops have been used in the past in many applications to recover or track the phase of the transmitting carrier of a received signal. Heretofore, such systems have required the transmission of some signal, in addition to the information signals, to indicate the phase of the transmitting carrier. For example, many amplitude modulation, suppressed carrier systems employ a phase locked loop in which the received signal includes a relatively low level carrier signal, or pilot tones, in addition to the information carrying sidebands. The sidebands are applied to a demodulation multiplier or phase detector (demodulator) which receives, as a second input, the output of a variable voltage controlled oscillator. The low level carrier signaLor pilot tones, are detected and compared with the oscillator output to develop an error signal proportional to the phase difference between the carrier and the oscillator output. This phase error signal is then generally low pass filtered which tends to eliminate all components other than the DC component indicative of the phase error. The filtered phase error signal is then DC amplified and applied to the oscillator to control its frequency so as to minimize the phase error. The low level carrier or pilot tones naturally decrease the signal energy available for the information signals and there has long been a need for a system for deriving a phase error signal for a phase lock system which did not consume transmitted energy.

A number of systems exist in the prior art for transmitting digital data over telephone lines and for correcting the distortion in the received signal due to varying transmission line distortion. One such system is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,614,623, entitled Adaptive System for Correction of Distortion of Signals in Transmission of Digital Data, filed Apr. 21, 1969 by G. K. McAuliffe. The data transmission system disclosed therein transmits a four vector signal generated by combining two amplitude modulated data signal Waves in quadrature. The two modulators used are of the switching type, each providing a double-sideband spectrum. The carrier for the two data signal trains is displaced by and is added before transmission to provide a four phase data signal for transmission. To insure maximum utilization of the transmission channel, two orthogonal snbchannels with multilevel amplitude modulation are used on each channel. With this arrangement, more than one bit of information may be transmitted in each Nyquist interval. (A Nyquist interval is that time period in which successive impulses may be transmitted by a channel without interference between the peaks of the received pulses; the corresponding Nyquist rate is a rate in signal values-per-second, numerically equal to approximately twice the available channel bandwidth in cycles per second.) The receiver for the transmitted data signals includes individual detectors or demodulators for the quadrature carrier signal. The phases of the received in-phase and quadrature data signals are compared with the phase of a local oscillator including a 90 phase shifted output of the oscillator. The oscillator phase must track the phase of the transmitting carrier in order to eliminate the errors in the demodulated signals. One prior method of deriving the carrier frequency of the receiver for demodulation of the data signals is to transmit two pilot tones; e.g., 600 Hz. and 3000 Hz. which are separated by 1200 Hz. or by the reciprocal at the symbol rate from the carrier of 1800 Hz. Phase lock circuits of the receiver recover the two pilot tones from the received signals to enable reconstruction or derivation of the carrier frequency and data bit timing signals.

The present system is an improvement on US. patent application, Ser. No. 72,962, filed Sept. 17, 1970, entitled A System for Phase Locking on a Virtual Carrier, by G. K. McAulitfe. In the basic application, the phase angle error is driven towards zero to achieve phase look. In the present invention, the error term, comprising of in-phase and quadrature components of the phase angle, is driven to zero.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The phase lock system of the present invention provides a substantial improvement in deriving a virtual carrier for demodulating received amplitude modulated suppressed carrier signals by controlling the frequency and phase of a local oscillator with an error signal derived from received data signals without the use of a low level carrier signal or pilot tones. The energy normally consumed by these additional signals may then be advantageously utilized in increasing the level of the transmitted information signals.

The error signal is generally derived in the system of this invention by multiplying the equalized received signals including cross coupling terms for each channel by the data signal level of the other channel, subtracting the product and then dividing the result by the sum of the squares of the data signal levels. The error signal is then independent of the data signal level values and of the received signals in the channels.

In a presently preferred embodiment of the invention incorporated in an amplitude modulation, double-sideband, suppressed carrier, quadrature transmission system, the in-phase and quadrature channels of the receiver are substantially identical and are each comprised of a demodulator means for receiving the transmitted digital data signal and for providing a demodulated data signal in accordance with a reference carrier signal. The output from the demodulator is fed to a low pass filter to eliminate high frequency components from, the demodulated signal. A sample and hold circuit operating at the transmitted symbol rate samples the demodulated signal from the lowpass filter and holdslthe sampled signal until the next sample time. The sample and hold circuit passes its signal output to a summing amplifier where the equalization process takes place. The summing amplifier then forwards the corrected or equalized signal to an analog to digital converter for transformation into an output .datasignal. A novel switching and weighting means receives the detected data signals and the equalized received signals which may include cross coupled components to prpvide an error signal which is fed to a variable oscillator providing the carrier reference signal to the receiver demodulators to change the phase of the carrier reference so as to minimize the magnitude of the error signal.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present in- 'vention to provide a new and novel phase-lock system which does not require a low level carrier signal or pilot tones.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel phase-lock system which operates upon the received data signal to derive an error signal for controlling a reference signal oscillator even if the channel contains asymmetrical amplitude and phase characteristics.

These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent and better understood when taken in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings, throughout which like characters indicate like parts and which drawings form a part of this application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a receiver for receiving digital data modulated carrier transmissions, including the preferred embodiment of the phase lock circuit of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vector diagram illustrating the relationship of the modulated received signal to the phase error of the quadrature demodulated signals;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a switching and weighting means used in the receiver embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of a switching and weighting means which can be used with the receiver embodiment of FIG. 1

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a decoder which may be used with the receiver of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a third embodiment of a switching and weighting means which can be used with the receiver embodiment of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a digital data receiver is shown comprised of an in-phase channel I and a quadrature channel Q.

Each of the channels, -I and Q, are identical in construction with similar components having similar number designations. The receiver of FIG. 1 is particularly adapted to be used in conjunction with the transmitter disclosed in US. patent application Ser. No. 72,962, filed Sept. 17, 1970, entitled A System for Phase Locking on a Virtual Carrier, by G. K. McAulitfe. The receiving end of the transmission line 24 provides an input signal R0) to the amplifier and AGC circuit 28.

The input signal R(t) is expressed in the following form:

R(t) =X cos w t+X sin w t Eq. 1

where in-phase. and quadrature where d(n) and d(n) represent the signal level for the presently received data bits for an n-level modulation system;

d(n) etc.'and d(n) etc.represent the signal level for the previously received data bits for the n-level modulation system; and f I hm, h etc. and h h etc. are the sample values of the in-phase and quadrature channel pulse response, respectively, andhn h etc. and h hm, etc. are sample values of the in-phase to quadrature and quadrature to in-phase channel responses, respectively. An in-phase to quadrature and a quadrature to in-phase channel pulse response are present on all channels having asym metrical amplitudes or phase or both asymmetrical amplitude and phase characteristics. I

The input signal R(t) is fed to demodulators 30 and 30, Demodulators 30 and 30 may, for example, be of the phase sensitive type so as to produce outputs S and S which are proportional to that component of the input signal which is in-phase with the reference signal applied to each demodulator from the voltage controlled oscillator 70. Between the in-phase channel demodulator 30 and the oscillator there is interposed a 90 phase shifter which shifts the phase of the reference signal sent to the in-phase channel demodulator with respect to the reference signal sent to the quadrature channel demodulator. The output signals from demodulator 30 and 30 will then be S =R(t) cos (w ll-Hz);

S =R(t) sin (w f+); respectively where is the phase error caused by demodulation with a ref erence carrier having a different phase from the phase of the modulated carrier of the transmitted signal. FIG. 2 illustrates the vector relationships between the input signal R(t), the major cosine, sine, and components of R(t), namely, S and 8,, and the etfect the phase error has upon these signals. 7 v

The S and S signals are then fed to the low pass filters 32, and 32, to remove all frequency components greater than 2 From the low pass filter, the signals from 32 and 3,2 are fed to a sample and hold means 34 and34 respectively. The sample and hold means maintain the signals S 'and'S available at their respective outputs until the next symbol sample time. A databit timing signal,

' I, having a rate equal to the symbol rate of the transmitted signal is fed to each of'the sample and hold means, 34 and 34,,, to indicate the start of the next symbol sample time. l

The outputs from the sample and hold means 34 and 34 are fed to summing amplifiers 36; and 36, respectively. The outputs from amplifiers 36 and 36, designated 8 and S are fed to the. analog to digital converters 40 and 40,,, respectively, and to the switching and weight: ing means 44. The converters change the S and 8,, signals into the corresponding output bit signals b and b The signals b; and b correspond to the data bits in the I and Q channels, respectively. The switching and weighting means 44 receives as. inputs the 8,, S b b and symbol rate 1 timing signals. Equalizer circuits 42 and 4-2 receive the 8,, S b and b signals from their respective circuits and produce the required equalization signals. The output of the equalizers is fed back to their respective summation amplifiers 36, and 36,, to then be subtracted from the signals from the sample and hold circuits 34. Mathematically, the output signals S and S from the vdemodulator's 30 and 30 can be written as follows by substituting Equation 1 into Equations 4 and 5, performing the multiplications; and disregarding the 2 terms: 4

(S =X cos X, sin 5) Eq. 6

(S =X cos +X sin qb) Eq. 7 Substituting Equations 2 and 3 into Equations 6 and 7 gives the following results:

)i 0i+ )i1 1i"' "l+d(n).h0..+d(n). m+-- Equations 8 and 9 can, for this application, be considered simplified by assuming that the equalizer technique described in U.S. patent application No. 817,887, entitled Adaptive System for Correction of Distortion of Signals in Transmission of Digital Data, filed Apr. 21, 1969, by Gerald K. McAulifie, which invention is assigned to North American Rockwell the assignee of the present invention, will eventually force all h hjq, h and h terms for i=1, 2, 3, 4, etc. to zero. The equalizer systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,623 can be inserted into the present systems by connecting point A of the present system to the junction of blocks 54 and 57 shown in FIG. 1 of the referenced application, and the junction between blocks 57 and 73 of the reference to point C of the present application and the input to block 51 to the point A of the present application along with the deletion of blocks 34, 36, 40 and 42 of the present application shown in FIG. 1. It can also be shown that in fact With these assumptions which are indicated by primes, Equations 8 and 9 become S '=d(n) (h cos qb-h sin I +d(n) h COS h0 Sin Eq. S '=d(n) (h cos b-h sin l' )l( 0iq C o Sin 1 q- 13 When Equation 12 is multiplied by d(n) and Equation 13 is multiplied by d (n),, we obtain: d(n) S '=d(n) d(n) (h cos qS-h sin +a (n) (h cos +h sin qt) Eq. 14

d(n) S '=d(n) d(n) (h cos h sin 95) e H +d(lt); (h cos +h sin Eq. 15 Subtracting Equation 15 from Equation 14:

l(n) S d(n);S =(d(n);

+d(n) (h cos +h sin Eq. 16

and further dividing by -(d(n) +d(n) we obtain: )q i- )a q' Equation 17 describes the output error signal from the switching and weighting means 44 which is fed to a filter 60 and from there to the voltage controlled oscillator to drive the the oscillator in a direction which causes the total error term (the term defining the systems phase error) to go towards zero. It should be noted that when the term represented in Equation 17 is caused to go to zero, the equations which represent the data signals in both the I and Q channels, Equations 12 and 13, respectively, became exactly independent.

Three examples of the implementation of the system of the present invention will now be given, one example for two-level modulation in each channel and two examples for four-level modulation in each channel. In the two-level case, d(n) and d(n) each have level values of either :1. Simplifying d(n) and d(n) to d; and d it can be seen that Equation 17 reduces to:

For the two-level case which has been discussed to this point, the switching and weighting means 44 can be mechanized by the circuit of FIG. 3. The signal S, is connected to the and terminals of amplifier 44 by by means of switch 51 through resistor 2R and resistor R, respectively. The resistors are inserted in the serial path to adjust the amplification factor of amplifier 55. The signal 8,, is connected to the and terminals of amplifier 55 by means of switch 53 through resistor 2R and resistor R, respectively. The switches 51 and 53 are field effect transistors controlled by digital signals b applied to the respective gate electrodes. The b symbol is used in the logic sense that when b is true the transistor is conducting, and when b is false the transistor is non-conducting. Also, b is true when data bit d=+1 and b is false when d=-l. By definition:

d =2b -l which mechanization is accomplished by the switching and weighting resistor configuration of FIG. 3. Switches 51 and 53 are controlled by the bit signals b and b The timing signals are properly developed so that the switches are allowed to close only after the sample and hold circuits have been switched to the HOL condition; and so that the switches are again caused to open prior to the time the sample and hold circuits are switched to the SAMPLE condition so as to sample the next symbol. Only two switches are needed with this implementation due to the unique coding of the d and b signals defined above.

If only one channel (for example, the I channel) is used to transmit data, the implementation is the same except that the Q channel analog to digital converter 40 and d is set to zero. Equation 15 then reduces to d S '-=(ho COS Sin The error signal is thereby reduced to one-half the magnitude of the previous case but this change can be easily compensated for by increasing the sensitivity of the voltage controlled oscillator 70.

Refer now to FIG. 4 wherein an embodiment utilizing four-level modulation is shown. With four-level modulation, two data bits are derived from each sample, 8, and S d =the most significant bit for the -I channel and d =the least significant bit for the I channel and, similarly d and d for the Q channel.

Again, it will be assumed that all the previous intersymbol interference has been corrected by the referenced automatic equalization technique.

The analog to digital converters 40 'and '40 'deriv these data bits according to the" following table:

' 1 Signalamplitude units. and similarly for; the Q channel. In this case:

Again, making the following substitutions:

q aq q' n- 20 1 Although satisfactory mechanizations may be worked out for any of the above alternatives, the last alternative has been found to be most convenient. Then:

(in dlq 4:1 (in; DiViSOI, D

The above table is satisfied by the following statements:

v Equation 24 is mechanized by the circuit of FIG. 4.

Ampli fiers 85 to 92 are operational amplifiers which, by

definitiomhave an infinite input impedance with an infinite open-loop gain." Switches 93 to" 99 are field-effect transistors controlled by digital signals, b, applied to respective gate electrodest'Logioblock receives the signals from the A/D -converters 40 and 40,, and perform the indicated operations to-produ'ce 'the signals shown. 'The b symbols are used in the logic sensethat when b is truethe transistor is'conducting, and when b is false the transistor is non-conductingAls'o, b is true when the' date bit d'=+1 and bis 'falsevwhe'n d---1'. In the following equations, b=-1 when b is true and b=0 when b is false. The signal at point F is presented mathematically as follows:

Signal at point F =Sil: -g( z 2bn] 1'(%+ 21- 11)' q This output is equivalent to performing the negative value of the multiplication given by the left hand of Equation 22. The following relations clarify the result:

21= z1+1) Substituting these relations inEquation 27results in:

and

Thus the signal at point F=-s '(d /2d,-, -f(i) where f( i) is defined by Equation 28.

Similarly the signal at point G=S' (d /2d f(q) Eq.,29 when f(q) is defined by Equation 29. V

Signal at point H -g (Signal at point G) =f( f(q) 31 Signal at pointJ= %(f( f(q)) V W) at q- 32 To formulate the final output E() at point L, consider the following relations:

lu ridla 11 (in 011 biibbiq- 111190111 These relations show that and b1 b1 =%(1-d1 d1 Diq s +h sin 45) or by multiplying both numerator and denominator by d d and substituting using the definitions of Equations 28 and 29 p d d d zq= (hoiq COS S111 Eq. 34

since d zd zl.

By comparing Equations 33 and 34, it is evident that the signal output at point L, namely E() of FIG. 4 is the desired error signal.

The implementation of FIG. 4 specifically is shown in a hybrid analog form but it will be obvious to those persons skilled in the art that the analog embodiment shown could be changed to a completely digital version utilizing applicants, teachings. For example, by means of A/D converters, the signals 5; and 8,, can be converted to digital numbers of any desired precision within the limitations of the state of the art. A single precision A/D converter with signal multiplexer can be used to generate both digital numbers. Once S and 8,, are converted to digital numbers, the necessary operations to produce the desired ,result become simple digital operations which are easily performed by standard digital components. For example, to obtain the digital number equivalent to (d /zd )S the necessary operations to be performed on the digital number equivalent to S are as follows:

on b2. Required operation to obtain (d1i% 1120s.

0 0 Change the sign of Si and divide by 2.

0 1 Change the sign of Si and divide by 2 and add to Si 1 0 Divide Si by 2 and add to Si.

1...--- 1 Divide Si by 2.

digital voltage controlled oscillator, or the analog signal of E() can be used to control the oscillator.

Referring to FIG. 1, the output from each analog to digital converter 40 is fed to a differential decoder 50 which provides the digital output signal D The decoder 50 is shown in FIG. 5. The input signals b and b are fed to flip-flops Q and Q respectively, and to the logic block 62. The outputs from the logic block 62 are fed to flipflops Q and Q; with the output of Q being fed to Q The output of Q, is the digital signal D Tables A-3 and A-4 set forth the coding logic for logic block 62 and the operating states of flip-flops Q through Q TABLE A-3 Received phase Q Q! (degrees) TABLE A-4 Decoding logic I) [11,; Q5 Q6 Q1 Dent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 l 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 l 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 O l 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 O 1 O 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 Referring now to FIG. 6 wherein a second embodiment of the switching and weighting means 44 having a fourlevel capability is shown. This particular configuration has the advantage of providing a relatively simple mechanization. The switching and weighting means of FIG. 6 is comprised of two operational amplifiers, 101 and 102, switches or gates, 103 to 107, and a plurality of resistance elements R with appropriate scale factors preceding the R designations. A logic block 112 receives the b signals from the A/D converters 40 and 40 and performs the indicated operations to provide output signals to control the designated switches. The circuit is based on the aforementioned unique conversion technique involving the conversion of the analog data to a digital control signal. The technique is based on the fact that by the definition given for d and b d=12$ Eq. 35

because for d=l, b=1 and $=0 and for d= 1, b=0 and 5:1; also d: 1-2b Eq. 36

Both Equations 35 and 36 have the same foremat, namely a constant minus, another constant multiplied by a digital bit which is either 0 or 1. The mechanization of Equations 35 or 36 is, therefore, simple and equivalent. For example, the function Letting the value of the resistance between points N and P be Rf(b) which can have one of two values, /1R or 1 1* %R-,=*which is the parallelcombination of /aR and R The output at P will be: a v

which is equivalent to d .d .d .d =l (See Equation 26) This shows Equation 42 to be equivalent to Equation 34 and that the output P is the required error signal,

namely (h cos +h sin Eq. 43

While there has been shown what are considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be manifest that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the essential spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore, in the annexed claims, to cover all'such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope of the invention.

We claim: V

1. For use in an asymmetrical suppressed carrier, quadrature transmission system wherein the received signals in an in-phase channel and a-quadrature channel are equalized to subtantially eliminate the components of all previously received data signal values, the equalized received signals having cross coupled terms being thereafter converted to respective in-phase and quadrature data signal values, a method of generating an error signal proportional to the phase difference between the suppressed transmitting carrier of the system and the output of a local reference carrier generator of the system, said method being for machine implementation and comprisingthe steps of:

multiplying the equalized received signal in said inphase channel by the quadrature data signal value to form a first product;

multiplying the equalized received signal in said quadrature channel by the in-phase data signal value to form a second product;

subtracting said first and second products to form a difference signal; and

forming the square of the value of said quadrature data signal and the square of the value of the said in-phase data signal; dividing said difference signal :by the sum of the squares of said quadrature and in-phase.

data 'signalswhereby the quotient-forms said error signal..'; a 2. The method defined in claim 1,-and further including the steps of: T f

applying said error signal to the local reference carrier generator to drive the phase difiere'nce between the suppressed transmitting carrier and' the locally generated reference carrier so as to, drive said error signal substantially to zero. j 3. In a quadrature transmission system having first and second phase sensitive demodulators for producing outputs S and S respectively, from an input signal.

havingltheformntua.

I R(t)=X cos w t-l-X sin w 't i where pulse response characteristics, respect filely and re cos w t and-sin w t are the in-phase and quadrature carriers, respectively, and wherein p simplified forms of X and X can be where r v '(h cos .+,h sin 5) is, the error term between out- I puts S and-- S ',-apparatus for controlling the reference phase todriveisaicl error term towards zero, comprisingin combination: v I (a) a first and second lowpass filtermeans receiving the input from the first and second phase se nsitive demodulators, respectively, for removing ,frequency components above 2 p a i (b) a firstand secondsample and 'hold ,means connected to receive: the output fromsaid first and sec ond phase sensitive demodulators, respectively, said sample and hold means samplingthe output signals from said demodulators ,at periodictimes and retaining said signals until thenext sample time; (c) .a first and secondanalog vto tdigitalrconyerter for receivingsaid 8,: and S 'signal, respectively, and for providing digital outputs d and id proportional to S, and S respectively; V (:1) means for forming the products Sfd and S 'd and for subtracting SQ'df'fro'm S 'a'g' t'o'providean output error signal "2('h 'cos':+h sin 4:); and (e) variable oscillator means responsive to said error signal providing-a first and second phase reference signal to said first and said'seco'nd phase sensitive X andX are the general,in phaseand quadrature im expressed as v 13 demodulators, respectively, so as to drive the phase error signal 2(h cos +h sin towards zero. 4. The invention according to claim 3 wherein said means for forming the products SM and S d are comprised of (a) an operational amplifier having a positive and a negative terminal; (b) a first resistor connecting the signal 8; to the negative terminal of said amplifier; (c) a second resistor connecting the signal S to the positive terminal of said amplifier; (d) a switch connecting the signal S to the negative terminal of said amplifier in response to the signal 14 d forming the desired product signal at the output of said amplifier.

References Cited 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,384,824 5/1968 Grenier 179-15 BC 3,522,537 8/1970 Boughtwood 32s s0 X 0 BENEDICT V. SAFOUREK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 325-60, 321 

